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Humanitarian Action for Children 2019 - Mozambique

Countries
Mozambique
Sources
UNICEF
Publication date
Origin
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Cyclone Idai which made landfall on 14-15 March, is the worst natural disaster to hit southern Africa in nearly two decades, resulting in 464 deaths as of 27 March. Some 1.85 million people are in dire need of assistance, including 1 million children, and an over 135,000 people (as of 27 March) are displaced, taking shelter in 161 transit centers in Sofala, Manica, Zambezia and Tete provinces. In Beira, Mozambique’s second largest port there is critical infrastructure damage and heavy flooding in urban areas. Access and logistical constraints are a major challenge. Over 3,200 classrooms are also damaged and 54 health facilities have been affected. Heavy rains preceding the cyclone have compounded the problems, with the spread of water-borne diseases being a major concern. Cholera has been confirmed in urban areas and transit centers and a vaccination campaign is planned. Damage to crops has devastated the country's agricultural production with nearly 50 per cent of Mozambique’s production destroyed for the year. Water and electricity are being supplied in limited locations in Sofala affected areas, exacerbating the situation.

Humanitarian strategy

In line with the Humanitarian Country Team Flash Appeal. UNICEF will expand its field presence with the establishment of three hubs in the most affected cities of Chimoio, Beira, and Quelimane to ensure operational efficiency and a timely response. UNICEF will adopt a multisectoral response to meet the needs of affected populations in both rural and urban areas, while also targeting displaced households living in accommodation centers.

Cash/voucher-based assistance will be provided where relevant. UNICEF will also enhance its capacity to provide operational support, undertake higher frequency monitoring and quality assurance for both governmental agencies and partners, especially for outreach interventions in hardto–reach areas. UNICEF will strengthen cluster coordination at national and decentralized levels, and will also promote innovation through the use of technological platforms and approaches for assessment, data collection, monitoring, information sharing and seeking real time feedback. UNICEF will link its humanitarian and development programming, and will invest in resilience strengthening in the recovery phase through adopting a risk informed approach. UNICEF will work towards strengthening Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) by establishing coordination structures to ensure crisis-affected populations have access to reporting mechanisms and assistance.

Results from 2019

UNICEF is supporting the government and partners in reestablishing basic social services. Timely prepositioning of supplies enabled UNICEF to respond from the first days of the crisis, with over 100 metric tons of lifesaving supplies being dispatched to affected areas. UNICEF is supporting the Government and partners to assess the impact of the cyclone. UNICEF has also deployed technical experts on the ground to lead the response, and is operationalizing clusters at the national and sub-national levels. UNICEF is scaling-up WASH and health interventions, as well as supporting the rehabilitation of the water supply systems in Beira, providing 500,000 people with access to safe water . Working with partners, UNICEF is re-establishing primary healthcare services and deploying outreach teams, with the aim to prevent a rise in communicable disease and malnutrition . UNICEF will work with Ministry of Health and partners to provide counselling and support to 100,000 pregnant and lactating women. Together with the Ministry of Health and WHO, UNICEF is ramping up cholera preparedness interventions. UNICEF will support access to learning and rehabilitation of learning spaces . UNICEF is also working on scalingup psychosocial support to affected children and reunifying unaccompanied and separated children.